| EVENT REPORT 08.17.09 5:14 PM |
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| Taste Test |
| To help prevent childhood hunger, more than 40 local chefs and mixologists donated savories, sweets, and cocktails to Share Our Strength's Taste of the Nation benefit. |
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On Thursday night, volunteer servers circulated in the Ravenswood Billboard Factory, offering guests at Share Our Strength's Taste of the Nation benefit plated snacks that ranged from sushi rolls to gourmet steak and eggs. "I'm too full, I've tasted everything," one partygoer protested before calling his server back. "Wait," he said. "Is that pork?"
According to Anna Batcke, field manager at Share Our Strength, the nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing childhood hunger, the fund-raiser's menu had much to do with its success in drawing approximately 600 guests. "Facebook and Twitter were remarkable in driving ticket sales," she said last week. Of the more than 40 local chefs and mixologists who whipped up savory snacks, desserts, or drinks for the walk-around tasting, Batcke said: "so many of them tweeted about what they were going to prepare, it drove a ton of traffic." |
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PHOTO GALLERY |
 | The event took place at Ravenswood Billboard Factory, a sprawling structure that holds vintage ephemera such as a lit-up eyeglasses ad.
Photo: Eric Craig for BizBash |
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 | Silent auction tables formed a line in front of the venue's collection of vintage cars.
Photo: Eric Craig for BizBash |
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 | On the first level, local mixologists worked at tables draped in BBJ's orange linens.
Photo: Eric Craig for BizBash |
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 | Mixologist Carlos Cuarta prepared a Savory Chacha cocktail with coconut jam, pomegranate molasses, and palm sugar syrup.
Photo: Eric Craig for BizBash |
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 | Savory snacks included gourmet steak and eggs from Graham Elliot.
Photo: Eric Craig for BizBash |
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 | In the second-level dessert lounge, Hoosier Mama Pie Co.'s station offered mini pies on a stick.
Photo: Eric Craig for BizBash |
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 | Toni Roberts, pastry chef at the Affinia Hotel's C-House restaurant, whipped up a spread of miniature desserts such as raspberry-studded bread pudding.
Photo: Eric Craig for BizBash |
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 | Angel Food Bakery provided treats such as lemon-blueberry-meringue cupcakes.
Photo: Eric Craig for BizBash |
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 | Callebaut Chocolate Academy had a spread of sweets in the upstairs dessert lounge.
Photo: Eric Craig for BizBash |
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 | In the third-level V.I.P. lounge, a DJ from Crossfader King spun party tunes.
Photo: Eric Craig for BizBash |
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Batcke said that the online instruments were also effective in recruiting volunteers for the benefit, which was ultimately staffed by a crew of about 150 culinary students, chefs, and Share Our Strength staffers. "We don't have a lot of paid staff at the event," said Batcke. "We're a volunteer-run platform." Batcke said that about 85 percent of the staff came from responses to Share Our Strength ads on Facebook and Twitter.
The event's pastry chef co-chairs, Mindy Segal and Elissa Narow, also reached out to their contacts in the culinary communities for help; and co-chair R.J. Melman, a partner at Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, "leveraged all kinds of resources from the Lettuce Entertain You network [of restaurants] to help us bring everything together," Batcke said.
To accommodate the dozens of tasting stations at Thursday's event, Batcke and her team arranged for the layout to spread over three levels. "We wanted to reach our [600-guest] attendance goal, but we didn't want the event to feel crowded," she said. "At a food and wine event, you really want guests to feel like they can breathe, enjoy, and relax."
Tasting stations were ultimately arranged by type, with drink stations and savory items—such as Sepia's duck and foie gras ravioli with truffled corn—spread out over the venue's first floor. Upstairs, a dessert lounge offered mini cherry pies on a stick from Hoosier Mama Pie Co. and praline-Frangelico crunch from the Sofitel Chicago. And in a third-floor V.I.P. area, top ticket-holders were treated to lounge seating, a full bar, and DJ-spun music.
Correction: The text has been updated to reflect R.J. Melman's involvement in the event.
—Jenny Berg
RELATED TOPICS
Share our Strength, Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, Facebook, Twitter
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